DENVER, COLO. (5/28/09) – Swallow Hill is pleased to welcome back Kailin Yong in his next Peace Concert on Friday, July 3 at 8 p.m.

Music has the power to reach across boundaries, spreading joy and understanding like nothing else can. Kailin Yong Peace Project returns to Swallow Hill in this spirit with a fantastic evening of original music rooted in his exploration of the cultures of the world, bringing charming melodies from many lands home to share.

In his musical travels, Yong has played everywhere from the streets of San Francisco to the hallowed symphony halls of Europe, in tiny cafés and at open-air festivals, with youth orchestras and Middle Eastern ensembles. A graduate of the Vienna Academy of Music, the Singapore native came to the United States in 1999.

As co-founder of the eclectic neo-roots band Boulder Acoustic Society, Brazilian quartet Beco do Choro, and alternative string quartet Strings of Tao, Yong regularly performs with these and a diverse array of musical acts. In 2008, Yong released his solo debut, Bowing with the Flow, sharing his musical journey from the past decade…with hints of the future.

“Through music, we discover that there is no ‘them and us,’ and the reality of our all being connected as one becomes clear. This is the vision put forth in Kailin Yong’s music. We hear the musical styles of the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and the Americas … Everyone finds a welcome.” — Cameron Powers, Musical Missions of Peace

As a musical ambassador and recipient of the Daniel Pearl Memorial Violin, Yong believes in the power of music to help bring peace and understanding to the world—and he has dedicated his music to promote causes of sustainability and harmony. He invites us all to join in honoring tolerance, humanity, and international friendship, embracing the universal language of music to spread a message of hope across cultural divides and inspire a sense of unity and purpose.

Many talented artists will join Yong to share their experiences, art, dance and poetry toward a musical mission of peace. Musical guest artists for this performance include Brett Bowen, Charlie Mertens, Carl Sorensen, Roshan Bhartiya and Andy Skellenger.

“I want to play music that lifts your spirit, songs that bring your focus back to the beautiful things in life that we forget as we get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the world around us.” — Kailin Yong

DENVER, COLO. (5/21/09) – Following his internationally acclaimed album, The Black Swan, and fresh from the triumphant UK reunion of the original line up of Pentangle in 2008, Bert Jansch celebrates the long awaited first-time CD release of his three albums recorded for Charisma in the 1970s: the seminal LA Turnaround, Santa Barbara Honeymoon and A Rare Conundrum, with a 22-date tour of North America this summer. Swallow Hill is pleased to host Jansch’s Denver stop on Sunday, June 28 at 7 p.m.

Bert Jansch, legendary songwriter and guitarist, is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential musicians of all time. Since the mid-1960s, generation after generation has been held spellbound by his extraordinary ground-breaking guitar playing and classic emotive songs. Jimmy Page, Neil Young, Nick Drake, Johnny Marr, Bernard Butler and Beth Orton have all been devotees, and now yet another new generation of musicians and fans, led by Devendra Banhart, are discovering Jansch for themselves. Jimmy Page says, “At one point, I was absolutely obsessed with Bert Jansch. When I first heard that LP [1965], I couldn’t believe it. It was so far ahead of what everyone else was doing. No one in America could touch that.”

Jansch began performing his unique synthesis of folk, blues and jazz on the folk club scene of the early 1960s, having hitch-hiked to London from his hometown of Edinburgh. His first self-titled album (played on a borrowed guitar and recorded on a reel-to-reel tape deck) was legendarily sold to the Transatlantic label for £100. On its release in April 1965, Jansch caused a sensation for its innovative guitar technique and powerful songs, and it has been phenomenally influential to this day, cited by legions of guitar players (famous and otherwise) as a major inspiration.

The Black Swan has been hailed internationally as one of his greatest albums. MOJO called it an “instant classic” and gave it five stars (something hardly ever seen), while in the U.S. it was proclaimed “better than Dylan” (San Francisco Weekly). Jansch worked with some of the latest musicians to emerge on the scene on The Black Swan, including producer Noah Georgeson (Devendra Banhart - Cripple Crow, Joanna Newsom - Milk-Eyed Mender), and musicians and vocalists Beth Orton, Devendra Banhart, Otto Hauser (Espers, Vetiver), Helena Espvall (Espers) and Kevin Barker (Currituck Co.).

In a live setting, his performances are still a rare opportunity to see one of the British music scene’s true legends play. His understated, low key approach eschews hollow show business routines, and the audience is treated to a guitar playing master class and an impressive catalogue of some of the most haunting songs in the British canon.

Sparse performer, slyly intelligent country-folk artist, Nels Andrews, will open the show.

DENVER, COLO. (5/19/09) – The magic of exquisite flamenco guitar and dance returns to the Swallow Hill stage on Saturday, June 27 at 8 p.m. as René Heredia returns for a master performance.

Heredia began his training with his father, a “Gitano Puro” (pure Gypsy). As a little boy, he remembers always having the house full of flamencos such as Carlos Montoya, Vicente Escudero, Mario Escudero, José Greco’s dance Company, Carmen Amaya, Sabicas, La Chunga and her Company. They were and are all close friends of José Heredia and his family. Sabicas would help and teach Heredia the secrets of flamenco at his mother’s kitchen table.

At 13, he was performing with his sisters, Fátima, Sarita, Zoraida, and Carmen, and his brother, Enrique. As “Los Heredia,” they were doing concerts, television shows and supper club performances. His international recognition came when he was 17 and the incomparable flamenco dancer, Carmen Amaya (Spain’s greatest dancer of this century), heard him play. She immediately took him to be her lead guitarist and he toured many years doing concerts in the major capitals of Europe and the United States with the famous Amaya Ballet.

Heredia is a recipient of the prestigious Governor’s Award of Colorado for excellence in performance and education, as well as the Mayor’s Award of Denver for excellence in the arts. Heredia has also done command performances for such dignitaries as Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco, Armand Hammer, Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia, Queen Noor of Jordan, and Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter. Recently he was invited to be the lead guitarist and guest artist with Stewart Copeland, founder of The Police in his national tour of the U.S. dubbed, “The Rhythmatists.” The Colorado Performing Arts Center also invited Heredia to be the musical director for the play, “Romeo and Juliet,” set to early colonial California times.

As always, Heredia will be joined by a troupe of top-level flamenco dancers at this show.

DENVER, COLO. (5/14/09) – Since 1979, Swallow Hill Music Association has hosted the best acoustic, folk and roots music performers in the Rocky Mountain Region. Swallow Hill Music’s summer concert line up continues to grow, starting with the legendary San Francisco band,It’s A Beautiful Day, on July 17. August 1 we welcome back blues queen Ruthie Foster, along with her band and opening act, one of Colorado’s top bluesmen, John-Alex Mason. Top-notch songwriting goes to a whole new level when Vance Gilbert & Terri Hendrix share an evening of performance together, and Americana legend Dave Alvin will come to Swallow Hill with his new project, an all-star cast of Guilty Women. Fingerstyle Guitarist of the Year Trace Bundy, the “acoustic ninja,” returns to perform and teach. Roots/fusion goes in entirely new directions when we welcome Canadians The Duhks with a new rap/bluegrass project, The Deadly Gentlemen, featuring Greg Liszt of Crooked Still and Sam Grisman. Saffire – The Uppity Blues Women will deliver their farewell show and Boulder Acoustic Society will release their latest CD, Punchline.

Tickets go on sale on line at www.swallowhillmusic.org on Friday, June 5, and will be available by phone at (303) 777-1003 x2 or at our box office at 71 E. Yale Ave., Denver, Colo., 80210, beginning Wednesday, June 10.

HIGHLIGHTS

It’s A Beautiful Day
Friday, July 17 at 8 p.m.
The legendary San Francisco band best known for their song, “White Bird,” is still flying strong. The band boasts the longest continuous lineup: eight years strong with four of the six members going back 25 – 40 years. Today the band performs the classic music of It’s A Beautiful Day along with newer material, moving effortlessly from an almost folksy sound to ethereal jazz to psychedelic to straight-on rock ‘n’ roll.

Ruthie Foster Band w/John-Alex Mason
Saturday, August 1 at 8 p.m.
Blues singer/songwriter queen Ruthie Foster returns with her latest sizzling album, The Truth According to Ruthie Foster, on which she tackles life’s big issues, repeatedly testifying to her core message: that through all of the ups and downs of living, you must stay true to yourself.Foster’s songs are a remarkable hybrid of blues, gospel, roots and folk music rich with honest spirituality and emotion. One of Colorado’s most talented bluesmen, John-Alex Mason, will open.

Vance Gilbert & Terri Hendrix
Friday, August 7 at 8 p.m.
The Boston Globe declares, “(Vance Gilbert) is that rare performer for whom people lean forward in their seats as eagerly between songs as they do during them.” Texas Music Magazine writes: “Simply put, Terri Hendrix creates the kind of music that makes you feel good, conceived and delivered with utter sincerity.” This special evening with these two stellar performers is sure to deliver powerful, unflinching, honest and sincere songwriting.

Dave Alvin and The Guilty Women @ the L2 Arts and Culture Center
Thursday, August 13 at 8 p.m.
The Americana legend and former member of the Blasters who has been dubbed by Variety as “a brilliant songwriter” returns with an all-star cast of guilty women: guitarist Nina Gerber, bassist Sarah Brown, steel guitarist Cindy Cashdollar, accordionist Suzy Thompson, violinist Amy Farris, multi-instrumental bluegrass queen Laurie Lewis, drummer Lisa Pankratz and vocalist Christy McWilson. This special night of all-star music is presented by Swallow Hill at the L2 Arts and Culture Center on Colfax and Columbine in Denver.

Trace Bundy w/Aaron Espe
Saturday, August 15 at 8 p.m.
The “acoustic ninja” returns to Swallow Hill to dazzle audiences with his lightning-fast, adept fingerpicking. Accolades for Bundy include First Place as “Most Promising New Talent of the Year” and Third Place as “Best Fingerstyle Guitarist of the Year” by Acoustic Guitar magazine (2008) and First Place in the Fingerstyle Acoustic Guitar Contest at Guitars on the River, Salida, Colo. He will also be delivering a “Partial Capo Techniques” workshop with Randall Williams at Swallow Hill on Sunday, June 28 at 2 p.m. Opening the show is Aaron Espe, winner of the 2008 Emerging Artist Contest at the Four Corners Folk Festival.The Duhks with The Deadly Gentlemen (feat. Greg Liszt of Crooked Still & Sam Grisman)
Friday, August 21 at 8 p.m.
Manitoba-based roots band The Duhks’ spot-on fusion of traditional bluegrass, folk rock, Afro-Cuban jazz and soul is so accessible and yet so hard to pigeonhole. It’s earned them a Grammy Award nomination in the Best Country Vocal Performance category as well as a Juno award in their native Canada. They’re joined by The Deadly Gentlemen, whose wildly original debut, The Bastard Masterpiece, proudly defies the stereotypes of both banjo and rap to define an organic, captivating, and totally novel approach to folk music. The Deadly Gentlemen features Greg Liszt of Crooked Still and Sam Grisman of the David Grisman Bluegrass Experience.

Saffire – The Uppity Blues Women: The Farewell Tour
Saturday, August 22 at 8 p.m.
During the course of their 25-year career, the band has produced six critically acclaimed studio albums, one live album and thousands of shows, going from virtual obscurity to become one of the most successful and entertaining acoustic blues groups today. The trio’s new Alligator CD,Havin’ the Last Word, will be their final declaration together as Saffire – The Uppity Blues Women. The group has decided it’s time to move on so they can pursue their own individual interests. This is their FAREWELL TOUR appearance for Denver, presented by Swallow Hill.Boulder Acoustic Society CD Release w/The New Familiars
Saturday, August 29 at 8 p.m.
Punchline, the brand spankin’ new album by Boulder Acoustic Society (BAS), is wide-eyed and naïve in all the right places. Throughout this new disc and on stage BAS are risky, yet never inaccessible, bringing American roots music into the 21st century with reckless creativity. This show serves as the official release party for Punchline. Joining them to open the party is The New Familiars, a quartet that combines an amazing passion for harmony and collaborative songwriting with multi-instrumental talent.

Additions to the Swallow Hill summer concert calendar:

DENVER, COLO. (5/13/09) – Swallow Hill is pleased to play host to the perfect ladies’ night out when The Four Bitchin’ Babes presents Hormonal Imbalance…A Mood Swinging Musical Revue to their Daniels Hall stage for one night on Friday, June 26 at 8 p.m.

After seven recordings and 18 years, these indestructible Divas are hotter than ever. Literally! Always evolving, witty and charming, the Babes welcome in a new era with a new cast and a new show entitled Hormonal Imbalance…A Mood Swinging Musical Revue!

Spend an evening with these outrageously funny and multi-talented musicians as they examine and ultimately celebrate the lives of today’s women. With sorority sister chemistry they perform original songs and stories offering both poignant views and unbridled comedic commentary on the joys and dilemmas of everyday life. With heavenly harmony, they share our struggles to balance careers and family, chocolate obsessions and low carb inner peace, CNN and TV Land, and finally, dealing with inadequate pay and inadequately cut swimwear.

The Four Bitchin’ Babes are Sally Fingerett, Debi Smith, Nancy Moran and Deirdre Flint.

As a pianist, guitarist, and composer, Sally Fingerett is one of the founding “mothers” of The Four Bitchin’ Babes. Altogether she has recorded five solo CDs, seven Bitchin’ Babes CDs and has participated in 12 compilation recording projects. Her song, “Home Is Where The Heart Is,” has been recorded by Holly Near, Ronnie Gilbert, and folk legends, Peter, Paul and Mary. As a studio musician, she has sung countless radio and TV jingles, and she’s made appearances on TV and radio programs running the gamut from “CBS Sunday Morning” to NPR’s Mountain Stage. She was a member of the National Touring Company of the Vagina Monologues and was on stage with Putamayo’s Songwriter Festival at Carnegie Hall. Her humorous essays have been published in myriad publications. Blending her essays and songs, Fingerett created “The Mental Yentl Show” which now airs annually on XM/Sirius Radio’s special events channels. In between touring with the Babes, she’s currently at work composing music for the play, “Hersteria..A Musical Noir,” for the Winnipeg Studio Theatre in Manitoba, Canada. Her latest CD, A Woman’s Gotta Do Her Thing, includes a moving duet with her pal and guest vocalist, Janis Ian.

Playing guitar, piano, and Irish bodhran (drum), Debi Smith has received many Washington Area Music Awards and nominations (Wammies) including Best Vocalist, Artist, and Album. She’s been a repeat performer on NPR’s A Prairie Home Companion, All Things Considered, Mountain Stage, Radio Smithsonian and Voice of America. She has appeared on “CBS Sunday Morning,” Country Music Television (CMT), and her bodhran playing is heard on Ken Burns’ PBS series, “The National Parks.” She has performed everywhere from The Kennedy Center to Russia. As “The Smith Sisters,” she and her sister, Megan, released four recordings on Rounder/Flying Fish (accompanied by Doc & Merle Watson and Mark O’Connor) and recorded three children’s albums that won Parent’s Choice and American Library Awards. Smith’s songs have been recorded by Grammy-winner Tom Paxton, won ASCAP composer awards and were finalists for the Virginia state song.

Named Songwriter of the Year by the Virginia Sound Achievement Awards and WXGI Radio,Nancy Moran has recorded four solo CDs, including her latest, Something Old, Something New. Garnering public and commercial radio airplay on 80+ stations coast-to-coast, her CDs have landed her on the Gavin Americana charts alongside Delbert McClinton and Joan Baez. She’s been featured internationally on radio stations in Australia, Canada and Europe. TheRichmond Times Dispatch called her “nothing short of a [modern-day] Joni Mitchell” and “a force to be reckoned with” while Dirty Linen says she has “a powerful, expressive voice…stunning.” An accomplished studio vocalist, Moran has sung on numerous song demos and CD projects. Because she loves to inspire and encourage other artists, she is a frequent keynote speaker at music conferences, a Nashville Songwriters Association International-endorsed music business instructor, a SongU.com online instructor, and the author of several books, audio series, and live workshops. She is the former Assistant Editor of American Songwritermagazine and currently serves on the advisory board of Indie Connect.

Lauded by The New York Times, Billboard magazine and The Christian Science Monitor, Deirdre Flint‘s songs hang out at the intersection where folk music and stand-up comedy collide. Since her first CD, The Shuffleboard Queens, debuted in 1999, Flint has played The Kennedy Center and the Kerrville Folk Festival and has been heard on 100+ radio programs throughout the country, including The Dr. Demento Show and The World Café. Her song, “Taxidermal Therapy,” from The Babes’ new Hormonal Imbalance CD, was chosen to represent the Babes on Dr. Demento’s Best of 2006 compilation. Her songs have been heard everywhere from Ireland’s “What Not to Wear” and Britian’s “Spendaholics” to TLC’s “A Dating Story” and the documentary, “Always a Bridesmaid,” in the States. As a celebrated witty and topical writer, she’s been commissioned to pen a children’s song honoring the town of Norfolk, Va.

DENVER, COLO. (5/12/09) – Swallow Hill is pleased to present one of the most beloved female songwriters and unique lyricists, Mary Gauthier, as she performs on their Daniels Hall stage on Friday, June 12 at 8 p.m.

Gauthier’s new Lost Highway album, Between Daylight and Dark, finds her aiming her compass at the sky and searching for home. It is from this longing for home that this group of songs has emerged, and they fill her new album with both hope and anguish, with faith as well as fear. She knows these places well, having traveled through a night that had stretched into years, from a turbulent Louisiana childhood through odd juxtapositions of accomplishment and devastation. The result is reflected in the music, starting as a trickle of songs almost from the moment of her sobriety and swelling into the stream that fed her first two self-released albums (Dixie Kitchen and Drag Queens in Limousines), an indie-label release (Filth and Fire) and her stunning Lost Highway debut (Mercy Now).

Acclaim has followed Gauthier. Mercy Now was continuously “discovered” and lauded in the two years following its release, earning mentions on a score of year end “Best of” lists in 2005, including the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune and No Depression. The album even received a benediction from Bob Dylan, who included one of its songs on a playlist for his XM Satellite Radio program. In 2005 Gauthier was also awarded New Artist of the Year by the Americana Music Association.

Gauthier’s evolution as a songwriter continues on Between Daylight and Dark, though the scenery has changed. You have to look closely to see the difference, but it’s there, like a flower pushing through rubble: an intimation of hope, a trace of sunrise in the troubled sky. Pastemagazine declares the album “a triumph that should catapult her to the forefront of Americana singer/songwriters.”

“As a writer, I’m figuring out what my job is today, in this instant,” Gauthier explains. “What I did yesterday does not matter. I am more in the moment. I know instinctively when I’m onto something, and then I have to chase that feeling down until I find what it is I need to say in the song. My songwriting changes as I change, and though it’s odd to admit it, I discover a lot about who I am in my songwriting. I can see how I’ve changed by looking back at how my songs have changed. The songs on this record are a little more fragile, a little more tender, and a lot more hopeful.”

DENVER, COLO. (4/7/09) — Lucy Kaplansky returns to Swallow Hill with a rootsy, alt-country album, Over the Hills, on Friday, May 15 at 8 p.m. with special guest Antje Duvekot.

The New Yorker hails Kaplansky as “a truly gifted performer with a bag full of enchanting songs” while the Boston Globe has dubbed her “the troubadour laureate of modern city folk.” She’s been a favorite singing partner of a who’s who in the scene, from Shawn Colvin to John Gorka, from Nanci Griffith to Richard Shindell. She teamed with Dar Williams and Richard Shindell to form supergroup Cry Cry Cry, releasing a self-titled album and embarking on a national tour of sold-out concerts.

Over the Hills explores universal themes of love, joy, loss and dreams for the future, through reflections on family. Produced by Ben Wittman (Roseanne Cash, Paul Simon), she reinvents Bryan Ferry’s “More than This” as a pedal-steel soaked ballad, rocks out on Ian Tyson’s “Someday Soon,” and June Carter Cash’s “Ring of Fire,” performs a winning country duet with Buddy Miller on Julie Miller’s “Somewhere Trouble Don’t Go,” and romps joyously through Loudon Wainwright’s “Swimming Song.” From the New York skyline to the hills beyond, Kaplansky’s latest album is pure Americana, wonderfully raw and rich with heartache and hope.

One of Boston’s brightest singer/songwriters, Antje Duvekot, will open the show. She returns with a second studio album produced by fellow songwriter and friend, Richard Shindell, calledThe Near Demise of the High Wire Dancer.

DENVER, COLO. (5/7/09) – Swallow Hill is thrilled to present Bad Weather California in a rare acoustic performance, joined by opener Rachael Pollard, on Saturday, June 6 at 8 p.m. This show will take place in their intimate Tuft Theater.

Drawing on The Velvet Underground and post-Beatles-era John Lennon, Bad Weather California is both timeless and classic while somehow being, simultaneously, forward thinking and modern. Most recently the Bad Weather California live experience has been compared to The Flaming Lips, The Band and Bob Dylan (Blonde on Blonde era).

Since their first tour with Leeds UK’s Boyracer and their jaunts with Dave Longstreth (The Dirty Projectors), they have toured the United States, Canada and Mexico, calling broken tour vans and random living room sofas home. They’ve also shared bills with Doug Martsch (Built to Spill), The Microphones, Scout Nibblete, The Mountain Goats, Little Wings, Mirah, David Dondero, CEX, The Blow and more.

Westword states: “At this moment Bad Weather California are probably one of the best bands playing in Denver, and worth seeing any chance you get,” while the Denver Post proclaims their front man “always creates an intense connection with his audience.” Their latest album, Young Punks, is available now through States Rights Records.

Rachael Pollard, named by Westword as Denver’s Best Female Singer/Songwriter (2007), will open the show. Her debut disc, A Good Thing, was hailed by critics, with The Onion‘s Jason Heller writing, “The chemistry is breathtaking, but it’s also underpinned with regret and an almost fatalistic joy…There’s more spirit, virtuosity, playful gravity and wide-ranging wonder and emotion in A Good Thing than you’d find in a hundred of Denver’s would-be Cat Powers. Sounds more like a great, great thing.”

DENVER, COLO. (5/6/09) – One of the Front Range’s fastest-rising bluegrass bands, Spring Creek, will return to the Daniels Hall stage on Saturday, June 6 at 8 p.m. They’ll have their latest album, Way Up on a Mountain, with them.

These musical road warriors have held tight to the bluegrass tradition, emulating the first generation greats while presenting a youthful, fresh sound. They eat, sleep and drink their craft within a musical community steeped in bluegrass. Never satisfied with the ordinary, these four voraciously search for unique or little-known songs, which they mold and shape through intricate instrumental arrangements and pristine vocal harmonies.

In 2009, Spring Creek joined the ranks of Ralph Stanley, Kenny & Amanda Smith and Steep Canyon Rangers as a Rebel Records recording artist. Spring Creek’s creative original songs and meticulous harmony vocals caught the attention of the nearly 50 year-old Charlottesville, Virginia, bluegrass label—which has never signed a Colorado-based band. Spring Creek recorded this past winter and released Way Up on a Mountain just this past May.

Spring Creek have two independent albums on the shelf, including 2008’s Lonesome Way to Go, expertly produced by Grammy award winner, Sally Van Meter. The album has won praise from bluegrass critics and DJs alike, and can be heard on bluegrass radio all over the world.

Spring Creek are the 2007 Telluride and RockyGrass Festival winners, and are the first band to win both titles in the same summer. Their reputation for excellence made them the most in-demand Colorado bluegrass band this past summer, earning them spots at more than ten regional festivals. Their songs have already become local jam standards and have been covered by internationally touring acts such as Uncle Earl.

In addition, the band’s original crowd favorite, “High Up in the Mountains,” won the Vox Populi Award for Best Americana Song from the Independent Music Awards last year. They were also invited to be part of this year’s MerleFest, and will be one of the official showcases at this year’s International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA), beating out more than 100 other national acts who hoped for an official showcase slot.

The Blue Maddies, featuring KC Groves of Uncle Earl, will open the show.